The Book of the Hylden
by Lady Lu Bu
Summary: Kain and Raziel are catapulted into modern day Oxford to stop Janos from obtaining a book that will render him invincible. Rated R for violence in later chapters, just in case!
1. Prelude

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this fic – oh, apart from Lara. And I don't own Oxford or the Book of the Hylden or anything like that. But if anyone has the ownership papers to Raziel, I'd gladly take him off your hands!  
  
Right, enough babbling. On with the story...  
  
Book of the Hylden.  
  
Prelude:  
  
'Moebius!' Kain bellowed the time lord's name, his voice echoing around the chamber. 'MOEBIUS! Show yourself!'  
Out of the smoke of the destroyed Time Streaming device, a shape consolidated into the form of Moebius. As he stepped out of the mist, the Soul Reaver buzzed warningly in Kain's hand. He means us harm, Raziel's voice said in Kain's head. Do not trust him, Kain! Strike him down again!  
'With pleasure, Raziel...' Kain lifted the Reaver, ready to plunge it through Moebius' heart.  
'Foolish vampire!' Moebius stalked over to Kain and lifted him easily by the neck, throwing him against the wall. Kain delivered a swift kick to Moebius' groin, causing the man to double over in agony, releasing the vampire.  
Swift as a flash, Kain brought the Reaver down in an arc, taking off Moebius' head. But as he did so, there was a blinding lightning strike and the Time Streamer reformed, shining with a malevolent black light. Step away! Do not approach it! Raziel was virtually screaming inside Kain's head, his restless soul making the Reaver quiver. Powerless to do anything since becoming trapped in the blade, Raziel's spirit often spoke to Kain, offering him advice. This had only been possible thanks to a gift from Ariel, who had seen the pain in Kain's heart at the knowledge that his lieutenant had willingly sacrificed himself by letting his soul be transferred to the blade. Now, Raziel was hammering on the walls of his prison, frantically trying to stop the ever curious vampire from touching the strange device. KAIN! Do not...  
It was too late. Kain's hand had breached the black light and he was swallowed into nothingness. The sensation was not pleasant, Kain mused, as he hurtled towards what he assumed was his doom.  
I told you so, Raziel's exasperated voice said. Kain could imagine his lieutenant shaking his head in despair. I told you not to touch the damn thing! Moebius' death must have activated this portal. Even in death, the bastard is trying to write our fates for us. Well, Kain, I hope you are happy. Heavens only know where we'll end up this time.  
'Come now, Raziel,' Kain said, closing his eyes as the black portal sped his fall up. 'This could be a grand adventure. I am sure there is some reason for this little... trip.'  
I wish I shared your faith... The light of the Reaver faded, indicating Raziel was becoming dormant and would no longer bother Kain's thoughts, leaving the vampire to enjoy the fall alone.  
After what seemed like forever, Kain saw a patterned carpet looming in front of him. He automatically put his hands out to stop his fall, but still crashed onto the floor with a thump that took his breath away. He waited for the spinning to stop before scrambling to his feet and taking a look around. He was in what appeared to be a library. It was a circular building with books lining the walls from the floor to the ceiling. There were no other people in the room, it seemed, so Kain decided to explore. He picked up the Reaver and shook it. 'Raziel, are you there?'  
The Reaver glowed with a blue light. Aye, Raziel said. Where are we?  
'It seems to be a library,' Kain said. He looked up to the top of the dome. 'A very large library. I do not recognise it – I don't think we are in Nosgoth any more.'  
Bravo, Raziel said, dryly. Hold me up so I can have a look round. Kain hefted the Reaver over his head. The blue light circled it as Raziel's spirit moved to scan the room. It paused. Over in the north corner. We have company...  
Kain moved into an attack stance and stealthily walked over to the lectern on the north wall of the library. As he neared it, a beam of light effectively nailed him to the floor. He dropped the Reaver and heard Raziel cry out. Only Moebius' staff could hurt Raziel in any way.  
'Your thoughts are correct,' Moebius said, appearing from behind the lectern with his staff held high, the stream of light pinning Kain to the floor. Kain struggled, but could not escape from his bonds. 'However, I have not harmed Raziel.' Another audible cry from the Reaver did not inspire Kain's faith in that statement. 'I have merely... immobilized him so he cannot interfere with what I am about to tell you.'  
'Spit it out, Moebius,' Kain snarled. The bonds were beginning to sap his strength. 'Tell me what you have to say, then leave us alone! Have you not interfered enough with our fates? And can you not leave Raziel alone even in death?'  
Moebius knelt down beside the vampire, revelling in the power that he held over him, even if it was only for a moment. 'I suppose you would like to know where you are.'  
'That would be nice,' Kain said, his voice loaded with venom. 'Where have you brought us this time, old man?'  
Moebius straightened up. 'Oxford, my dear Kain. You are in the intellectual centre of England. And it is the year 2004. And I have a very good reason for bringing you here...' He paused for emphasis. Raziel screamed again.  
'Tell me! Stop torturing Raziel...' Kain shut his eyes, not liking the fact that he felt he was going to faint any second. 'Tell me...'  
'You are here to search for a book,' Moebius said. 'Somewhere in this city lies the book of the Hylden. You must find it and destroy it before Janos discovers its location.' He narrowed his eyes. 'Janos is here also, Kain. And he is no longer under his own control. Raziel should have killed him when he had the chance.' Raziel screamed once more as Moebius moved his staff. 'Anyway, you two can stop him by finding the book. This city is filled with humans and books. There are many ancient places where it could be hidden. And anyone could have it.'  
'How do you propose we start looking for it?' Kain demanded, struggling to remain conscious. 'A vampire will surely cause comment.'  
Moebius laughed. 'I have all that in hand, my dear Kain.' The last thing Kain saw, before blackness engulfed him once more, was the staff coming down to hit him squarely between the eyes... 


	2. Oxford

Disclaimer – I still don't own any of this lot. But I want Raziel...  
  
Chapter 1: Oxford.  
  
Pain. Kain had not felt this much agony since Raziel had torn his heart out. But as he slowly, oh so slowly, stood up, the pain receded. He raised his hand to push his hair out of his eyes and paused, staring at his hand in wonder. For the first time in centuries, millennia, he had five fingers! 'What the...?' He saw a mirror in the room. Vampires do not have a reflection, but if his hands were human, perhaps... Moving over to the mirror, he gasped. He had a reflection. And it was... handsome. He looked much the same as he had done before he was made a vampire. 'Moebius, did you do this?' Kain pondered, as he explored the room he was in. There were seats around the edges, fat, plush seats covered in cushions. There was a large black box in the corner with a red dot on it. Nervous, Kain gingerly pushed the red dot...  
'Teletubbies, teletubbies, say HELLO!!'  
'For the love of God...' Kain pushed the button again and the strange noise and bizarre psychedelic pictures vanished. 'What is that thing?' He gave it a wary look before continuing his exploration. More presses of buttons yielded more noise from a silver box in the corner (a hi-fi) and the black box responded to commands from a slim black device with numbers on it.  
Having thoroughly explored the lounge, Kain opened the door and went into a room that he recognised as a kitchen, albeit rather different to the ones he was used to. He flicked a few buttons and switches, got bored and went upstairs. On the upstairs landing he found three doors. One of them yielded to his gentle push and led him to a bathroom. Another one revealed a large bedroom with a neatly made bed in it. The final door was a smaller bedroom, also with a neat bed, and on the bed...  
'Raziel...' Kain walked softly over to the bed. A young man lay on it, his long black hair fanned out behind him. His electrifyingly blue eyes were wet with tears and he was staring at the ceiling. Beside him, the Reaver lay broken, shattered into pieces, only the handle remaining intact. 'Raziel?' Kain asked again, lightly touching his lieutenant's cheek.  
Raziel did not move. He closed his eyes. 'I am human, Kain,' he said, in a weak voice Kain had never heard before. 'I... I never thought I would be human again!' He suddenly smiled and sat up. 'Kain... You are human too!' Raziel looked overjoyed. 'Did Moebius do this?'  
'He must have,' Kain said, wryly. He sat down on the bed. 'If you are happy to be human, why do you cry?'  
'Tears of joy,' Raziel said, wiping his eyes on the sleeves of his baggy jumper. Clad entirely in black, he looked very fragile and very much like the slender young Sarafan Kain had seen so many centuries ago. 'I felt like I was being tortured, then I awoke and was here... wherever here is.'  
Kain walked to the window and opened it, feeling sunlight on his face. He smiled to himself as he looked down on the town of Oxford. 'I guess here is where we call home,' he said. Raziel scooted over to lean out of the window too. 'And somewhere down there lies the book and our ticket out of here.'  
'Yes,' Raziel said. He looked thoughtful. 'Kain, when I woke, I went exploring the house. Have you seen the black box downstairs yet?'  
'I had a most distressing experience with it,' Kain said, shuddering as he remembered the bright colours and the noise.  
Raziel laughed. 'It is rather odd,' he said. 'Anyway, I found these when I was searching.' He held out a book bag and a wallet. 'Look.'  
Kain opened the wallet and read the card that was inside. 'Raziel Sarafan. Archaeology department? What the...?'  
'It means I am a student here,' Raziel said, smiling. 'That means I have access to almost everywhere.'  
'What about me?' Kain asked.  
'I can explain...' Moebius materialised. Raziel growled. 'I will not harm you. The two of you must seem like you belong in this world if this quest is to work. Raziel I made a student of the university, simply because his human form is so youthful.' Raziel allowed himself a smug inward smile. 'Kain, you are also allowed to move around the university – you have a research pass to all areas.' He started to fade. 'Happy hunting...'  
'For once the old devil actually did something useful,' Raziel mused.  
'There is once catch,' Moebius' voice said. 'At sundown, you will return to your old forms again. Raziel, that means you will return to your form as Soul Reaver. But you will no longer be imprisoned in the sword. I figured that two of you against Janos would stand more of a chance than just one.' And with that, Moebius was gone.  
'This is a strange predicament,' Kain said, tapping his nails idly against the wall. 'And yet the old man's plan actually seems to make sense.'  
'I suppose.' Raziel was looking at the horizon. 'But the sun is going down, Kain. Our mission will start tomorrow...'  
  
NEXT TIME: Raziel experiences the hell of being a student, and meets someone who will change his life. 


	3. Lara

Disclaimer – I own nothing. Nada (bursts into tears). Apart from my dreams of Raziel's adventures ^_^.  
  
Chapter 2: Lara.  
  
The night passed remarkably fast, and soon Raziel and Kain were restored to their human forms. It was with some trepidation that the both of them set off to the university to begin their search for the book. Kain instantly headed back to the massive library they had started in, logically deciding that it would be in there. As for Raziel, he marched off to his first ever lecture, feeling at the same time nervous and excited.  
He found the lecture theatre with comparative ease, and took a seat at the back, his habit of trying to blend into the shadows coming to the fore even now. As the lecture theatre filled, he scanned the sea of faces for anyone who looked remotely like Janos. He was praying that the old vampire was not here, in case he was recognised. But even if his cover was blown, he doubted very much that anyone here would have even heard of him.  
A little bored now, Raziel picked up his pen and doodled aimlessly on the edge of his pad of paper. Some giggling made him look up. A group of girls was sitting a couple of rows in front of him, and they were looking straight at him. One of them whispered something to one of the others, and more giggling ensued. Raziel gave the girls a smile, which set them off giggling yet AGAIN. They are as bad as the maids in the Sarafan stronghold, Raziel thought to himself. It seemed that once again his good looks were sending girls weak at the knees. But he suspected that the girls were all as bad as the maids he had known – only out for one thing. As a former priest, any relations with the opposite sex had been frowned upon. That hadn't stopped most of them, but Raziel had stuck with the vow and found that somehow that made him more appealing to the girls. His purity had been what had attracted Kain to make him his foremost lieutenant, the old vampire reckoning that Raziel was less sullied than the others and somehow more... malleable. And so it had seemed.  
The clearing of a throat made Raziel stop his musings and turn his attention to the lecture. The professor was old, old as the hills, and Raziel mentally calculated the amount of time he had left to live. Not too long before I come for your soul, old man, Raziel thought, smiling to himself.  
The lecture was almost as boring as listening to Moebius, so Raziel's attention quickly drifted. He started looking at his fellow classmates, again doing the mental calculations on their lifespans and wondering if their souls would have the metallic taste of the souls of Nosgoth. He looked down the row he was sitting in and he noticed someone sitting a few seats away from him, alone. She was not in any sense of the word pretty, being rather plain and with large round glasses on. Her hair was slightly greasy and pulled back in a low ponytail. Her clothes screamed 'charity shop' and she was taking notes with a rather chewed pen. And yet... Raziel sensed something about her that made him curious. Scooting along the bench, he crept next to her and waited until she noticed him. She jumped as she made eye contact and looked away, biting her lip and blushing. She leaned away from him a little, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. But once Raziel had his eye on someone, he did not let it go.  
Raziel sat next to the girl for the rest of the lecture. When it ended and the general bustle of students trying to leave as fast as possible started, he caught her attention. 'What is your name?' he asked, as gently as he could.  
'L-lara,' the girl said, still keeping her eyes averted from him. She stole him a little glance and blushed again.  
Raziel found that rather adorable. 'I am Raziel,' he said to her. 'It is nice to meet you, Lara.' He stood up at the same time as she did, and he realised that he towered over her. She could not have been more than five feet tall. 'Lara, would you like to go for some lunch?'  
Lara's hazel eyes positively lit up. 'You mean that? Oh, yes please!' She looked away again. 'I've not really made many friends here – in fact, I haven't made any at all.' She sighed. 'Do you really want to have lunch with me? You weren't put up to it by... them?' She pointed at the group of giggling girls.  
Raziel gave the giggling girls an evil look before turning back to Lara. 'Nobody put me up to anything,' he said. 'I make my own choices.'  
'Oh, they're coming over.' Lara hid, actually HID, behind Raziel as the four giggling girls came over to them.  
The tallest of the four, a redhead, waltzed up to Raziel and batted her eyelashes at him. 'Hi, handsome. What are you doing with this minger?'  
'Lara is my friend,' Raziel said, his blue eyes narrowing. 'If you have nothing civil to say to her, I suggest you leave.'  
'Oooh!' Another of the girls, an Oriental-looking one, cowered in mock fear. 'I'm so scared!'  
Raziel could feel the Reaver wanting to break through on his right hand, but he quelled his anger. 'You should be,' he said. 'If any harm comes to Lara, you will have me to deal with.'  
'And just who are you?' the tall, thin blonde one demanded (there is always a tall, thin blonde one).  
'I am Raziel,' Raziel said. 'And you are?'  
'I'm Keiko,' the Oriental said. 'The redhead is Kat, the blonde is Melissa and the other one is Michelle. If you want to get anywhere at the university, you'll hang out with us. If you don't, you'll hang out with the likes of Lara. And you're FAR too cute to be seen with her.'  
'I'd rather make my own friends, thank you,' Raziel said, giving his most winning smile. 'Lara, let's go. I am rather hungry.' And taking Lara's arm, he walked out of the lecture room.  
Lara hung onto him, hardly daring to believe what she had witnessed. 'Y-you stood up to them!' she said, amazed. 'Nobody has ever done that before.'  
'It's easy,' Raziel said. 'You must just speak your mind. If you believe in what you say, other people will believe you.' He stopped. 'Where would you like to go for lunch?'  
'I do not mind,' Lara said. 'There is a nice café in a bookshop I know.'  
'Then let's go there...'  
  
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Raziel and Lara became firm friends, and were never apart. But one day, Lara asked Raziel the question he had been dreading. 'Why do you never come out at night?' she asked one day.  
Raziel paused in his writing. They were in the library again. 'I have commitments every evening,' he finally said, burying his nose in his textbook. 'I am sorry, Lara. I would love to see the city at night, but...'  
'You don't have to explain yourself to me,' Lara said, with a sad smile. She was gradually coming out of her shell since meeting Raziel. His very presence seemed to fill her with confidence, and she was starting to discover the beauty underneath her usually scruffy appearance. Raziel encouraged her to take pride in herself, and Lara was falling under his spell every day. 'You're my best friend, Raz. And as such, I trust you.' She stood up and planted a gentle kiss on Raziel's cheek. 'I've got a lecture. I'll see you later.'  
'Bye.' Raziel watched her leave before turning his attention back to his coursework.  
'She's quite a girl.' Kain sat down opposite Raziel, a heap of books in his arms. 'I'm glad to see at least you've made a friend. People here seem to be a little scared of me.'  
'You just need to let your winning personality shine through,' Raziel said.  
Kain narrowed his eyes. 'Raziel...'  
Raziel gathered his books together and stood up. 'Listen, Kain. I may be your most faithful lieutenant. I may have chosen to be imprisoned in the Reaver. I may have spared your life on more than one occasion but remember...' He leaned forwards and his eyes flared with white light. 'I still hate you.' And so saying, he strode away.  
Kain sighed and shook his head in frustration. Raziel was certainly living up to the image of the frosty teenager. As he leafed through another research book, he found his mind wandering to the days when he had had Raziel at his side as a lieutenant. He was made first of them because Kain had been enchanted by the young man's fragility and innocence. But as Raziel matured as a vampire, his real fiery temperament was revealed. He thought nothing of attacking the other lieutenants, but he was never stupid enough to turn on Kain. And the day Raziel had revealed his wings... Kain felt his anger rise up again. That day, jealousy had overwhelmed him. Jealousy and fear, fear that he had created something that surpassed his greatness. Raziel was always the wise, canny one. Kain had thought that if he allowed Raziel to live, his young charge would eventually overthrow him. But even casting Raziel into the abyss had not dented his spirit. Their fates twined and twisted together, and neither of them could escape the other. Finally Raziel had allowed himself to be swallowed by the Reaver, and Kain realised that Raziel's loyalty was greater than he could have imagined. Raziel's parting words rang in his head. 'I still hate you...'  
'I no longer hate you,' Kain muttered, looking out of the window and down onto the quad where he could see Raziel sitting on a bench, reading. 'I need you, Raziel. And you need me.'  
  
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Lara hadn't realised that she had been in the library for so long! It was nearly ten at night and the librarian had just thrown her out. She hefted her bookbag onto her back and hurried back to her room, not liking the fact that her route took her through some of Oxford's back streets. The badly lit routes frightened her, although she would never admit it. 'What would Raziel think if you told him you were scared of the dark?' Lara reprimanded herself. 'Honestly, girl...' She turned down a back alley, thoughts of Raziel dominating her mind to the extent that she didn't realise she was horribly lost.  
'Oh, cheese,' Lara swore, stopping and surveying her surroundings. She was near the big Blackwells store, which was nowhere on her way home. She was down a side alley and near a sandwich shop she recognised. 'You're stupid, Higgins,' she said to herself as she retraced her steps. 'Stupid...' She squealed as an arm shot out and pinned her to the wall.  
'Where're you going?' a heavy masculine voice drawled. Lara turned her face away from the man, who stunk of alcohol. 'I wouldn't struggle, my girl.' A click and a flash revealed a small flick knife in the man's hand. 'I could kill you right now, but I'd rather have some fun with you first...'  
'HELLP!' Lara screamed 'HELP!' Her cries were cut off as the man shoved his hand over her mouth.  
'I said shut up,' the man snarled. He pushed against her. She could smell his sweat mingled with alcohol. 'The more you scream, the worse it will be for y...'  
'You touch her and I shall kill you,' a smooth voice said. Lara gasped as a strange blue demon stepped out of the shadows, followed by what could only have been a vampire – if they existed.  
Her attacked sneered. 'What is it, Halloween?'  
A white light leapt from the demon's arm and formed into a sword. Before the attacker could move, the sword impaled him. 'This one's for you, Kain,' the demon said to the vampire. 'You've not eaten all night.'  
'My thanks...' Kain picked up the corpse and drained it of its blood.  
Lara fell to the floor and cowered defensively as the demon walked over to her. 'Don't hurt me,' she whined. 'Please...'  
Raziel knelt down beside her. 'Lara...'  
Lara looked up as she heard that familiar voice. 'Raziel?'  
'It is me.' Raziel moved so she had enough room to stand up. 'You wondered what I did in the evenings. Now you know.'  
'Raziel...' Lara reached out to touch his chin. Her hand caught his cowl and found utter nothingness. 'Oh god...' She folded up and fainted.  
'One for you, Raziel,' Kain said, mirth in his voice.  
Raziel scoffed and picked Lara up. 'Just get us home, vampire,' he said.  
'With pleasure...'  
  
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When Lara came round, she found herself in a room she recognised. Raziel's! But... where was he? She quickly replayed the events of the evening.  
'Glad to see you are awake,' Raziel's voice came floating from the shadows. 'I wondered when you were going to wake up.' He was idly playing with the resonance from the Reaver, winding the strands of white round his fingers. Lara gasped. 'Do not worry,' Raziel said. 'The blade will not harm you.'  
Lara backed away from the Soul Reaver, her eyes wide as she beheld the white blade seemingly generated from Raziel's arm. She refused to believe that this demon was infact her best friend. 'I-it's horrible,' she said, backing even further into the wall. 'And... and so... are you.' She looked away from the demon in front of her and saw Raziel's essay sitting on the desk, as well as a number of his personal effects that she knew well. And then, she believed. 'Raziel...'  
Raziel would have smiled if he could have. 'Now do you believe it is me?' he asked. Lara nodded, her eyes filling with tears. 'Lara...' Raziel twisted his cowl down so Lara could look at him properly. Lara whimpered, clearly frightened. 'I know my appearance must be strange to you. But I am still Raziel – still your friend.' He pulled the cowl up again to spare Lara the sight of his chinless face. 'I will become human again at first light. But this is my true form.'  
'What happened to you?' Lara asked, wiping some tears away.  
Raziel sighed. 'Have you got all night?' he said. Lara nodded, so Raziel launched into his story. When he was finished, he sighed again. 'Strange, isn't it?'  
'Yeah,' Lara admitted. 'So... you and Kain are here looking for this book, right? And you think it's somewhere in the university, right?'  
'Yes,' Raziel said, wondering where her mind was taking her.  
'Have you considered the museums?' Lara queried.  
'A good plan.' Kain misted through the door, a broadsword held in his hand. 'Raziel, your young friend has some great ideas. We should make use of her knowledge of the city to find the book – if she is not too scared of us, that is.' He gave her a smile, exposing his fangs.  
Lara set her jaw. 'I'm not scared of you. Well...' She blushed a little. 'Perhaps you're a little scary, Kain, but Raziel is my best friend and I'm going to help you if he wants me to.'  
'Your help would be welcome,' Raziel said. If he could have smiled, he would have. Instead his eyes went a brighter white. He reached out one clawed hand and took Lara's tiny hand in his. 'Thank you.'  
Lara smiled. 'What are friends for?'  
Raziel was about to reply, but a piercing shriek halted his speech. He suddenly felt light-headed. 'The Reaver!' he said, instinctively leaping up to the box where he kept the shattered fragments of the sword. Opening it, everyone was nearly blinded as bright blue light spilled out into the world.  
'What the hell...?' Kain dragged Raziel out of the way and plunged his hand into the box, grabbing a piece of sword. He dropped it almost instantly and slammed the lid shut. 'What is going on? That burned.'  
'I can explain.' Moebius materialised. Raziel and Kain's demeanours changed instantly, Lara noted. Raziel took up a crouched position, ready to spring. Kain's hand tightened on the handle of his sword. 'The Reaver is simply reacting to the presence of one with Hylden blood in their veins... Lara.'  
Lara nearly fell off the bed. 'What? What do you mean?'  
Moebius laughed. 'Did you not wonder why Raziel was so drawn to you, my girl? He sensed something about you. That was it. You have Hylden blood in your ancestry. The Reaver is attuned to these things.'  
'Your point being?' Kain snarled. 'You are trying my patience.'  
'My point is that you can use Raziel's little PET,' here Moebius threw Lara a disparaging glance, 'as a tracker dog.' He lifted Lara off the bed. 'Sic 'em, little puppy. Sic 'em...'  
There was a whum whum noise as the Reaver sprang into life on Raziel's arm. 'You will not speak about my friends in such a manner.' The white blade was frighteningly close to Moebius' throat. 'Drop her.'  
Moebius released Lara, who retreated under the safety of the blankets. 'I was merely stating her purpose,' he said, his eyes narrowing. 'She is not of our world, Raziel. Use her like the animal she is...'  
'Moebius!' Raziel struck with the Reaver, but Moebius had vanished. 'The bastard...' Raziel growled and the Reaver receded. 'I'll kill him.'  
'Again?' Kain asked, smoothly. 'Leave him, Raziel. He did actually have a point. Lara would be able to track the book. If the Reaver reacted to her the way it did, the book and, more importantly Janos, would go mental if she was anywhere near them.' He looked at the sky. Dawn was poking over the horizon. 'Raziel, we are going to transform soon. I shall leave you two alone. I am sure Lara has no wish to see my transformation. Good day.' Kain departed, leaving Raziel and Lara alone.  
Raziel winced as he felt the sun touch his body and he felt his human form coming back to him. When he was changed, he wrapped his dressing gown around himself and went over to the bed, where Lara was still a sobbing heap of blankets. 'Lara?'  
Lara poked her head out of the cocoon of covers she had made. 'Who was that horrible man?' she asked.  
'You mean Kain, or Moebius?' Raziel asked, a mischevious gleam in his eye. 'Moebius is the reason we are here, like I said. And he did have a point about using you to track the book. But he didn't have to put it in such a derogatory manner.'  
'I'm used to people talking about me like that,' Lara said. She double taked as she looked at Raziel. 'You're human again.'  
'Told you so,' Raziel said, sitting down next to her. 'Which do you prefer?'  
Lara blushed. 'Your... weird... blue form is kinda cute,' she said, with a giggle. 'It's your feet, I think.'  
Raziel laughed. 'Each to their own,' he said. 'So... are you going to help us, even after what Moebius said?'  
Lara nodded vigorously. 'Of course I'm going to help you!' she said. She suddenly flung herself on Raziel, taking him into a hug. 'Raz, I'd go to the ends of the earth for you.'  
Raziel closed his eyes and rested his cheek on Lara's soft hair. I hope you don't have to go to the ends of the earth for me, he thought. I dragged you into this, but with your help perhaps we can all get out of here...  
  
^_^ Next chapter... Raziel and Lara kiss! Kain bites off more than he can chew! And Raziel and Kain discover something about this mission that they REALLY didn't need to know... Keep reading and keep reviewing!!! 


	4. Defiance

First of all, apologies for the lack of updates! I'm a busy little girl, you know ^_^. And secondly, thank you thank you thank you to my reviewers. You gave me the motivation to carry on with this little piece of fiction.  
  
Disclaimer – still don't own anything. Want Raziel (preferably giftwrapped)  
  
Chapter 3: Defiance.  
  
After that night, Raziel and Kain took Lara out with them on their nightly patrols, hoping that somehow she would trigger the book into action or draw Janos out of wherever he was hiding. Both Raziel and Kain were in no doubt that Janos was in Oxford – he would not let such an opportunity for power pass him by, not since that thing (as Raziel called it) possessed him.  
Many nights passed without any significant progress, and Kain was starting to think this was all some massive hoax cooked up by Moebius just to piss him off. He divulged this fact to Raziel and Lara.  
'It's possible,' Raziel said, stirring his tea with the end of his pen. They were sitting in a café, enjoying the autumn sunshine. 'The old git has played games with us before.'  
'He's probably planning some stupid scheme to take over Nosgoth,' Kain said, moodily ripping a paper napkin to shreds. 'And he figures that he can do it while I'm not there.' The vampire slammed his fist down into the table, spilling a little of his coffee. 'Damn him! I won't let him touch my country.'  
'Calm, Kain,' Lara said, with a giggle. Kain amused her. 'I think this might be genuine. Otherwise, why didn't he just kill you?'  
'Kain is extremely hard to kill,' Raziel said, looking over his sunglasses at his sire. 'Aren't you?'  
Kain gave a low growl and his green eyes flashed their vampiric yellow for a moment. 'Speak for yourself. I thought I'd got rid of you when I threw you into the Abyss.'  
Raziel's eyes narrowed. 'And for what? I caused you more grief undead than I did alive. By trying to kill me, you only made me stronger, Kain. Strong to the point where I could tear your heart out and use it to resurrect Janos.'  
Lara yelped. 'YOU resurrected Janos?'  
Kain laughed. 'This whole predicament is Raziel's fault. He removed my heart, the Heart of Darkness, on Vorador's instructions, and used it to bring Janos back to life. He thought he would be doing the old boy a favour.'  
'I didn't realise something would possess him,' Raziel snarled.  
Kain continued. 'But your kindness was your weakness, Raziel. He begged you to kill him – but something stayed your hand.' He leaned forwards, putting his elbows on the table. 'What happened to the vicious killer I created, my little Sarafan?'  
Raziel stood up so fast he knocked his chair over. His eyes were blazing with white heat. Sunset was coming, and he was losing his human form. 'He died the instant you threw him into the Abyss,' Raziel said, his voice dangerously low. 'You created me as a meaningless killer. You didn't expect that I would turn out the way I did, did you? You were trying to replicate the way I was as a Sarafan, only more lethal. And you had that, for a time. Until you killed me, and I saw the light. I saw what you were really trying to do.'  
'And what was that?' Kain asked, mildly.  
'Destroy Nosgoth and reclaim it for the vampires.' Raziel spat the words and abruptly turned on his heel, leaving Lara and Kain alone.  
'Should I go after him?' Lara asked.  
Kain shook his head and looked at the sky. 'Leave him,' he said. 'Raziel has always had a temper.' He sighed and stood up. 'I must get somewhere where I can transform in peace. I shall see you tomorrow, Lara. It looks like Raziel is not going to want to take you on patrol tonight.'  
'That's ok,' Lara said. 'I'll catch up on some coursework.' She said goodbye to Kain and started to walk home. On her way, she passed a couple kissing in a doorway – at least that's what it looked like. She hurried past, but her whole body began to tingle as she walked on. As she passed, the man looked up, his eyes burning with blue fire. Lara didn't see that, but she recognised the girl as Kat, the redhead that hated her. So the slut finally found a man, Lara mused, as she entered her tidy flat. She walked into the kitchen and turned on the light. And nearly died of fright as she saw Raziel and Moebius sitting at her kitchen table. 'What the hell are you doing here?' she demanded.  
Moebius stood up and bowed to Lara. 'Just checking up on my two little vampires,' he said. It was then Lara noticed the point of the Reaver placed in a very strategic spot. 'I was just leaving.'  
'You most certainly were,' Raziel said. The wraith blade hummed. 'Get out of my sight before I do something I regret.'  
'With pleasure...' Moebius vanished in a cloud of purple steam.  
Lara turned to Raziel, who was fiddling with the torn edge of his wings. 'You ok? You stormed off pretty fast.'  
Raziel sighed. 'I just get angry with Kain sometimes,' he said. 'I love him and hate him by the same degree. But...' He shrugged, something his skeletal form was rather good at. 'I don't know. Come here.' He enveloped Lara in a hug. She was getting used to his boniness now and wasn't scared of his true form. In fact, she found it rather endearing. As they stood like that, Lara looked up at Raziel and he realised that she had tears in her eyes. 'What's wrong?' he asked.  
'Nothing,' Lara said, quietly. 'I...' She buried her head into his shoulder, smelling his smell of death, the smell of a vampire. 'Raziel... I can't say it...'  
'I know,' Raziel whispered, closing his eyes. 'I know...' Lara loved him. She had accepted him for what he was and she loved him. And as he held her, he realised he loved her too. If I could keep my human form for just one night, he thought. Just one night...  
'Done...' Moebius' voice floated out of nowhere and Raziel felt the strange tingly feeling of a transformation. Lara gasped as the bony body she had been hugging turned into solid human flesh once more.  
Raziel didn't dare open his eyes. 'What do I look like?' he whispered.  
Lara's response was a kiss on the cheek. 'Beautiful...'  
  
Across the city, away from where Lara and Raziel were getting better acquainted, Kain was sitting on the roof of the Bodelian Library, kicking his heels against the stonework. He was bored, and a bored vampire is a dangerous thing. He had only eaten one human since his arrival in oxford, and that had been the drunk that tried to mug Lara. He was hungry for blood, bored out of his mind and, although he didn't want to admit it, he was lonely without Raziel by his side. His lieutenant had been beside him for centuries, first as a vampire and then as a soul in the blade of the Reaver. He was always unsure where he stood with Raziel. After all, the boy had sacrificed himself to the sword. He laughed. He was still referring to Raziel as a boy even though he was a good thousand years old. 'I'm going mad in my old age,' Kain chuckled, getting to his feet and sniffing the air. He was in the mood for hunting, and he could smell the warm flesh of a young human female nearby. With no sound, Kain shifted to bat flight and began to track his prey.  
  
Back in Lara's house, Lara and Raziel were cuddled up in front of the television, watching a documentary without interest. Lara snuggled into the crook of Raziel's shoulder and nosed him lovingly. 'This is dull,' she said, stifling a yawn. 'Perhaps we should go to bed.'  
Raziel laughed. 'After what we've just done? I don't think so.' He bowed his head to kiss Lara again.  
'You are starting to lose your human form,' Lara said, sadly. 'Moebius must have only granted you this for a few hours.'  
'But it was long enough,' Raziel said, heaving a slight sigh as he turned back into his wraith form and wrapped his cowl about him. Lara leaned on him, gazing up at him once more. 'You really don't mind what I look like, do you?'  
'Nope.' Lara tousled Raziel's hair. 'You're my Raziel. You always will be, no matter how weird you look.'  
'I don't look weird,' Raziel said, feigning annoyance. 'I'm just... I'm...' He double-taked at the television. 'I'm on TV. And so is Kain...'  
'What?' Lara sat up and turned her attention to the TV. 'That's... that's a trailer for a game! What are you two...?'  
Raziel stood up. 'Someone knows we are here – someone apart from Moebius. It's got to be Janos.'  
'But... that game...' Lara was confused. 'It says it's the continuation of a series. How can Janos have created a whole series of games based around you guys if you've only been here for... a few...' Light dawned. 'The Time Streamer!'  
Raziel nodded. 'Janos could have been here for the equivalent of years,' he said. 'We don't know how much Nosgothian time is relative to English time. And the Time Streamer distorts time anyway.' He tapped his hoof on the floor, thinking. 'Perhaps Janos wants our story known to the world. Maybe he is trying to make people think we are evil or something.'  
'Or perhaps he is trying to make the story known,' Lara suggested. 'I suggest we go out and get that game. I want to see what it's like.' She got up, wrapping the blanket around herself. 'It's late. We should go to bed.' Raziel didn't reply. 'Raziel?' He was on his knees on the rug, shaking. 'Raz? What's wrong?'  
'It's Kain,' Raziel said, as if speaking through gritted teeth. 'Something has happened to him... he is in great pain.' With what seemed like a tremendous effort, he stood upright. 'I must go to him. He could be in danger.' He caught Lara's chin in his hands. 'Sleep well, my pet. I will see you in the morning.' And with that, he was gone.  
  
In a back alley, a stray tabby cat was frightened out of his wits as a cloud of bats consolidated into the form of Kain. Kain laughed as the cat shot out from between the bins like a bat out of hell. 'Still got it,' he said, straightening his armour. He always felt a little peculiar after bat flight – sort of like he had hundreds of legs and he felt like he should be hanging upside down. Shaking these feelings off, he crouched down and sniffed. The female human had been here – and she was close by.  
'Hi, handsome.' She was infact right behind him. Her hair was a flame red, and she was wearing a black outfit that left very little to the imagination. Kain felt strange stirrings inside that he hadn't felt for centuries. The girl slunk over to him. 'Looking for a good time?' She wasn't in the least bit scared of him as she ran her hands over his face and body, tracing the knobbly bits from all his years of evolving.  
'Er...' Kain said.  
'Hush.' The girl trailed her fingers through his hair. 'Just enjoy yourself, vampire.'  
Kain froze. 'What...?'  
The girl laughed. 'I believe, you see. I believe that vampires are real.' She suddenly grabbed Kain's face and pulled him down to her level. 'And I've always wanted one to screw me,' she whispered. Her green eyes were narrow and sultry. 'Or are you scared?'  
Kain made a purring noise at the back of his throat. 'Not at all.' He instantly went for the girl's neck. She didn't even make a sound as his fangs pierced her jugular vein. He closed his eyes and drank deeply, feeling the warmth of her blood as it flowed into his mouth, the burn as it raced down his throat, burning more than the finest whisky known to man.  
He kept on feeding until the girl went limp in his arms and he released her. But instead of falling to the floor, she simply stood up and smiled at him. 'Pleasant dreams, Kain,' she said, vanishing into the shadows.  
Kain was puzzled. 'What? Agh!' He doubled over as he felt a pain course through him. Pain was too weak a word – he was in agony. It felt like hundreds of needles, burning needles, were being stuck into every cell of his body. He howled as the agony increased, as the burn went through him, boiling his very blood. Feeling light headed, he staggered into the back of the alley and sank to the ground. Now he was cold, shivering as if he was encased in ice. The fluctuating temperature of his blood was slowly killing him. Resigned, Kain closed his eyes and waited for death, something he had cheated for far too long.  
A rustle and the familiar sound of hoofed feet on cobbles brought him partially back to his senses. But when Kain opened his eyes, all he could see was red. 'Raziel?' he said, thickly. 'Is that you?'  
'Not Raziel,' a very familiar voice said. 'But someone who can help you.'  
  
Raziel sped across the city, clambering up walls and gliding between buildings in an effort to locate Kain. Intermittently throughout his journey, he had felt stabs of hot and cold, pain so great that it nearly knocked him out. He had been using the Reaver as a compass, the wraith blade glowing red as it got nearer to Kain's position.  
When the Reaver started to whine and glow white hot, Raziel knew he was nearing where his master was. Sneaking around the final corner, he peeked into the shadows to see if Kain was there. Kain was indeed there, sitting against the wall. He looked feverish and faint. And someone was sitting with him. Someone that Raziel knew well. 'Vorador?'  
Vorador inclined his head in Raziel's direction. 'Good evening, Raziel. I trust you are well.'  
'I'm fine.' Raziel approached cautiously. 'What in the name of all the gods are you doing here?' The Reaver hummed into life on his arm again.  
'There is no need to be afraid, Raziel. I do not intend to harm you.' Vorador turned his attention to Kain for a moment as the vampire gave a low moan. 'And I came here to help Kain. I knew he was in trouble, see.'  
Raziel moved closer. 'What happened to him?'  
'He drank blood from someone Janos has touched,' Vorador said. 'Janos somehow managed to poison the girl's blood. He knew Kain was hungry. He knew that he would go for any easy prey that was around. And...' Vorador sighed. 'Kain went for the bait. And he may not pull through.'  
Kain suddenly hissed and his eyes snapped open. 'It'll take more than anything that bastard Janos can throw at me,' he growled. But his eyes closed and he sank down to the floor. 'I feel so weak...'  
'You drank Hylden blood,' Vorador said. 'That is usually fatal to vampires.' He appeared to be thinking. 'Perhaps there was some human left in the girl after all.'  
'Did you see what she looked like?' Raziel asked.  
'Red hair,' Kain muttered. 'Beautiful...' He sank into silence.  
Vorador looked at the sky. 'We've got to get him inside,' he said. 'If the light hits him while he's like this, he'll die. Where do you live?'  
'Too far,' Raziel said. 'Lara lives near here – we'll take him there.'  
Vorador lifted Kain easily. 'Who is Lara?'  
Raziel paused. He was glad that he couldn't blush any more. 'My... girl,' he said.  
Vorador smiled. 'You always had an eye for the girls, Raziel.'  
Raziel did not reply. He just led the way back to Lara's house in silence, thinking. 'You did not answer my question, Vorador,' he said, eventually. 'Why are you here?'  
'I came to protect you,' was the answer. 'I have been here for years, laying out the path of this mission for you. I know what happened to Janos and I know about the book. If Janos finds that book, he will be invincible.'  
'I don't see what's so special about that book,' Raziel commented, leaping lightly over a parked car. 'What is in it?'  
'It's not what is in it,' Vorador said. 'It is what can be in it that scares me.'  
'I don't understand.'  
'If Janos writes in the book, his thoughts will come to life. And now he is under the control of the Hylden, who knows what he will write?' Vorador shifted Kain into a more comfortable position in his arms. 'Janos used to be a good man, as you know. But now...' The old vampire shook his head in dismay. 'He is not himself. And the powers of that book are not to be underestimated. The last time someone wrote in it, those murals in the citadel came into being. And half of the nasties you lot had to beat off are a result of someone's random scribbles.'  
'The pen is mightier than the sword,' Raziel said, thoughtfully. 'Here we are.' He hammered on Lara's front door. She opened it, still wrapped in a blanket. 'Lara, it's Kain...'  
Lara looked past Raziel to Vorador, took one look at Kain lying unconscious in his arms, and let them in without hesitation. 'What happened to him?'  
'He drank Hylden blood,' Raziel explained. 'Some girl that Janos managed to infect... a redhead.'  
Lara paled. 'What does Janos look like?'  
'About Vorador's height, grey hair... why?'  
'I-I think I saw him with Kat earlier today,' Lara said. 'They were... you know...'  
'Then she is under his power,' Vorador said. 'She is your enemy now, Lara.'  
'She was never my friend,' Lara said, bitterly.  
'That isn't the point,' Raziel said. He was looking at Kain with worry in his eyes. 'She is on his side now, Lara. And I don't know what she will do. We don't know what she is capable of. After all, she is under Janos' control now.'  
Vorador made a small noise. 'Raziel, there is something I feel I should tell you now. It would help with the mission. Just... just promise you won't kill me.'  
'Let's hear what you have to say before I decide whether or not to kill you,' Raziel said, folding his arms. 'Go on. We're waiting.'  
'Well...' Vorador coughed nervously. 'Have you seen the trailers for that new game?'  
'Yes...' Raziel gave Vorador a suspicious glare. 'Go on.'  
'I made that game so that people would be aware of your plight.'  
There was a ringing silence. Then Raziel started to laugh. 'You thought a game would make people believe? Oh Vorador! You are classic!' He sat down on the sofa, still laughing hard. 'You put the story of my descent into the Reaver into a game? That's priceless!'  
Vorador looked uncomfortable as Lara started to giggle. 'I thought if people realised what happened to make Janos the way he is, then perhaps...' He mumbled into silence.  
Raziel eventually composed himself enough to talk. 'Vorador, nobody here knows who we are. And they don't care.'  
'I beg to differ,' Vorador said. 'Nosgoth's entire history is documented in games. They are my way of making the world aware of our existence and, from what I have seen, some people really like our world. And they would be willing to help if anything bad happened.'  
'But they can't!' Raziel protested. 'To them, we aren't real! We're just pixels.' He looked puzzled. 'Do these games have any bearing on the mission, Vorador, or are they just further evidence you are going loopy?'  
'They are just documents,' Vorador said. He sighed. 'I just thought it would be a good idea...'  
'What if Janos gets hold of one of the games?' Kain's voice was scratchy and he looked weak. 'Tell us, Vorador.'  
Vorador grinned, his fangs lengthening as he spoke. 'That is the clever thing, Kain. If Janos were to see what he was like before he was possessed, then perhaps the little bit of Janos Audron that is still... him, as it were, will fight the Hylden.'  
'So Janos can save himself,' Raziel said. 'But...'  
'...You've got to stop him from getting that book,' Vorador said. 'If he finds it and writes in it, the Janos we know will be lost to the world forever. His kind soul will be destroyed and not even you, Raziel, can help him.'  
  
^_^ There we go! Chapter 3! So Janos isn't as bad as we all think... or is he? Next time: Kain finds out Kat's true power, Raziel has a rather frightening encounter with a bookstore owner, and we find out just why Blackwells in Oxford seems so damn big! Keep reading! Peace out! 


	5. Portals

Right, first of all apologies for the fluff in the last chapter between Lara and Raziel. But I needed that for some of the future plot to work!! Not my fault (cries).  
  
Here we go...  
  
Disclaimer – see previous chapters. Am still collecting for the 'Buy Raziel' fund (shakes collecting tin). Donations?  
  
Sigh. Let's get on with the story, shall we?  
  
Chapter 4 – Portals.  
  
It had been three days since Kain had drunk Kat's blood and become infected. And he had not improved one bit. He was still partially unconscious, covered in sweat and unable to change to his human form. Occasionally, he would scream something incoherent in a language nobody could understand before falling silent again.  
Vorador had taken it upon himself to look after Kain, by way of an apology for putting all of Nosgoth's history on record for all the world to see. Raziel was still variously angry and amused at that, and had gone out and bought the games just to see what all the fuss was about. Needless to say, he was not impressed the first time he saw his Sarafan self in Soul Reaver 2.  
'I was much more attractive than that when I was human!' Raziel grumbled, as he watched the cut scene. 'Honestly, Vorador...'  
'It's not my fault,' Vorador said. He had a bowl of water in his hands, on his way to soothe Kain's pain. 'I just wrote the story.'  
Raziel snorted. 'And they got that wrong too.' Frustrated, he turned off the console and looked at his watch. 'I have a lecture. I'm going.'  
'I'll stay and look after Kain alone, shall I?' Vorador said, a little bitterly.  
Raziel shrugged on his coat and shouldered his bag. 'You volunteered. Have fun babysitting.' And with that, he left.  
As he walked through the town, Raziel did what he always did and started to think. He was very worried about Kain. There were very few things that could kill the old vampire, but somehow Kat's blood had knocked him back, almost to the point of death. Janos was devious, using a human as his vessel, Raziel thought, as he paused at the crossroad just by Blackwells. Crossing the road, he hurried past the huge shop and to the sandwich shop just down from it where he was due to meet Lara. Right on time, Lara came out of the shop and waved, her eyes lighting up as she saw her love hurrying towards her.  
'Eek!' Lara squealed as Raziel lifted her off her feet in a massive hug. 'Hey! What's up with you today?'  
'Nothing,' Raziel said, grinning. 'So what did my favourite human get me for lunch?'  
Lara handed him a paper package. 'Tuna. I know you like it.'  
'Yum.' Raziel tore the paper and took a massive bite of the bread. 'Fank oo,' he said, his mouth full.  
Lara giggled. 'Silly. We'd better go or we'll be late.'  
Hand in hand, they walked to the lecture theatre. As soon as they entered, Kat slunk over to them, her eyes coloured a strange red. 'Well, well,' she said, putting her hands on her hips. 'If it isn't the freaks.'  
Raziel snarled. 'Speak for yourself.' He pushed her down to a seat and held her there as she struggled. 'Stop squirming or I'll tear your heart out. What did you do to Kain?'  
Kat laughed, once. 'Stupid man couldn't resist my charms. He got what he deserved. I carried out my task. You two don't seem to be carrying out yours very well, do you?'  
Raziel's eyes flared with white light as his ire rose. 'Janos has corrupted you,' he said, his nails digging into Kat's shoulder. 'You're his little assassin. What's in it for you, Katrina?'  
Kat smiled. 'Immortality,' she said, before throwing Raziel back with such force that he fell over into Lara. 'Janos knows you are here, wraith. And he knows just what you're trying to do. With Kain out of the picture, there is no way you will find the book before we do. Not even with a Hylden half-breed at your disposal.'  
'Just where is Janos?' Raziel demanded.  
Kat laughed. 'That would be telling, my dear.' And with that, she strutted away.  
Raziel did his best to hold his temper throughout the lecture, but Kat kept turning round and blowing him little kisses. Eventually it got too much for him and he excused himself and walked out. When he was outside, he found the nearest wall and gave it a damn good kicking. 'Bitch!' he swore, pounding his hands against the wall until they bled. 'Damn her! And Janos...' He aimed one last kick at the wall, lost his balance and fell over, landing on the grass with a thud. 'Fuck.'  
Students started to stream out of the buildings. Lara hurried over to him. 'You ok?'  
'As ok as I can be,' Raziel said, with a sigh. 'Why is Janos using her, Lara? There is no reason.'  
'What, apart from the fact she's my mortal enemy?' Lara said. She hooked onto Raziel's arm and guided him out into the street. 'You look so stressed. You need to get away from this place for a while.'  
Raziel shook his head. 'I can't leave Kain,' he said. 'He needs me now more than ever. Vorador is doing a great job of looking after him but...' He sighed. 'Kain relies on me. And now he is sick...'  
Lara hugged him. 'He will recover, in time.'  
'I hope so,' Raziel said, darkly. 'But for now, it's just you and me, kid...'  
  
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That night, Kain's condition worsened. Vorador shook his head as he laid his hand on Kain's forehead. 'He's burning,' Vorador said. 'He's as hot as hell.'  
Raziel looked down at his sire, concern written all over the portion of his face that was visible above his cowl. 'Keep him as cool as you can,' he said. He moved his arm and the Reaver hummed into life. 'I have some hunting to do.' He vanished with a slight hiss.  
'I hate it when he goes spectral,' Lara said. 'He can see us, but we can't see him. It scares me a bit.'  
'But it is a great skill to have,' Vorador said, opening the window even more. Kain's breathing was shallow and he was now sweating blood. 'In truth, Lara, I do not know how long Kain can last. He gets worse every day and now...' He gestured to the rivulets of blood pouring from Kain's body. 'I will search for a cure. But Hylden blood is usually fatal to vampires. Kain's body is crashing and I can't do anything.'  
Lara took Kain's hand and looked at his eyes. They were as white as Raziel's. 'He doesn't look good.' She yelped as Kain's claws closed on her hand, digging in slightly. 'I wish there was something I could do.'  
'I guess just keep him company and pray,' Vorador said, cleaning his hands of the blood. 'I must go. Please, if there is any change, just call my name and I will be here as soon as I can.'  
'Ok,' Lara said. She turned her attention back to Kain, who had started to move on the bed again. She knew there was no way she could keep him still. He started to mutter. She didn't understand what he was saying, but she caught one word...  
'Lincoln...'  
  
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Raziel crouched against the dome of the observatory, trying to keep himself as inconspicuous as possible whilst looking everywhere. Tonight had not been a good night – Kat and Janos were nowhere to be seen. He sat down on the parapet with a sigh. 'We're getting nowhere,' he declared to the world in general. 'Absolutely nowhere.' He flicked the Reaver into life and began to play with the energy streams. He did this for a while until he heard a noise in the alley just across from the observatory.  
Jumping lightly down onto the pavement, Raziel crept closer to the alley. It led up the side of Blackwell's bookstore. As he approached, he thought he saw something move. But by the time he arrived, whatever had been in the alley was gone. 'Damn,' Raziel cursed, using the Reaver as a torch, sweeping the light around the alley. He was about to jump up onto the roof when he realised that the back door was ajar. Strange, he thought, hooking his claws round the door and tugging it open gently. When it was fully open, he stepped into the delivery bay, expecting alarms to go off at any second. But the room remained silent.  
Raziel was always tentative about walking down any badly lit corridor – usually it meant something nasty was waiting for him at the other end or things were going to try and eat him on the way down. He skulked down the slope and opened the door at the bottom – nothing. Pushing his way past a heap of boxes, he opened another door. Nothing. Just the Blackwell's store lay before him, in total darkness. The absolute silence made him uneasy too, so he crept through the theology section as silently as a ghost, always wary, always alert.  
He got to the main balcony and looked down into the basement, his favourite place. Down there lurked the books of the occult, which he had been searching through in the hope that he might find something about the Hylden book. But tonight, Raziel sensed something odd about the basement, so he vaulted lightly over the balcony and glided noiselessly down to the floor.  
One of the bookcases was at an odd angle. Curious, Raziel pulled it away from the wall to reveal a small hole leading into pitch blackness. He clambered through the hole and held the Reaver up to give him light. But even the wraith blade could not penetrate this darkness – it was absolute, surrounding Raziel like a velvet cape. He had no choice but to press on, so he did. As he walked, he heard noises above his head – student noises. 'These must be the tunnels under the observatory!' he said to himself. Rumours abounded about these tunnels – that some mad professor had dug them as a hidey hole should a comet ever fall to earth. But nobody had ever found the entrance – until now.  
Raziel kept on walking, convinced that soon he would reach the end of the tunnel. He kept his hand on the wall just in case there was a side turning. But the tunnel kept on resolutely straight, sloping upwards now and again before twisting another way. As he took his next step, he realised too late that there was nothing beneath his foot except thin air. He yelled in shock as he plummeted downwards, not knowing where he would land. He shut his eyes and hoped for the best.  
A large crash and a splintering noise, followed by a hefty thump, told Raziel he had landed. But where? He got to his feet and looked around. 'What the?' He was back in Blackwell's! But on the top floor – he had fallen through the roof. Looking up to where he had fallen, he saw a portal spinning in the air. He smiled. Bookshops were rumoured to contain dimension portals – this one clearly did. Perhaps this is to our advantage, Raziel thought, as he made his way back home.  
On his way home, however, his mobile phone trilled, hidden in a pocked of his cowl. Fishing it out, he answered it. It was Lara, and she was frantic. 'You've got to come home!' she said, practically in tears. 'Kat... Kat came and she...' Her voice broke. 'S-she...'  
'Just calm down,' Raziel said, his level voice belying the fact that he was scared. 'I'll be there soon.' He broke into a run, praying that his feet were fast enough to get home before anything bad happened.  
  
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When Raziel arrived home, it was to find Lara crouched on the floor, shaking. She was covered in blood. 'Lara?' Raziel's voice brought her round to consciousness and she grabbed him into a hug. 'What happened?'  
Lara began to speak, her voice quavering. 'K-Kat came and... she took Kain! She's taken him and I don't know where she's gone...' She burst into tears. 'Vorador asked me to look after Kain and I couldn't even do that right!'  
'Hush... It's ok,' Raziel said, holding Lara close to him and rocking her soothingly. 'We'll find him. We will find him.' For a moment they just sat together on the floor. 'Did Kain or Kat say anything that may give us a clue to where they have gone?'  
Lara sniffed and wiped her nose on the back of her sleeve. 'When...' She coughed. 'When Kain was delirious, he said "Lincoln".'  
'As in the city?'  
'Possibly,' Lara said. 'Or he could mean Lincoln Books.'  
'Where is that?'  
'It's down in the town,' Lara said. 'It's just the other side of the park. It looks like it's been closing down forever, mind.'  
'So it's the perfect place to hide a vampire or a magic book,' Raziel said. 'Hmm.' He appeared to be thinking. 'It's too close to dawn now to go there. I suggest that we go tomorrow night again.'  
'What if Kat kills Kain?' Lara asked.  
'Then she will have me to deal with...'  
  
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'Are you quite sure about this, Raziel?' Vorador was not happy. 'He could have just cried the word out unknowingly. And he might mean the city.'  
Raziel sighed. 'Look, Vorador, I am not hauling my undead blue ex- vampire ass up to Lincoln when I have another avenue of investigation here. Exhaust all immediate possibilities before travelling further afield. That is one good thing Kain taught me.' He paused at the door. 'Lara, are you sure you don't want to come with me? You were up for it last night.'  
Lara shook her head. 'I'd rather stay here. I don't want to get into trouble.'  
Raziel ruffled her hair. 'That's my girl. Keep searching for anything that might give us a hint as to where Kain is.' And with that, he was gone.  
  
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Awaken. Awaken. The word kept going round and round in Kain's mind. Awaken... A familiar voice was telling him this. I know that voice, he thought. That's Janos' voice...  
'Janos!' Kain yelped and sat bolt upright. A hand instantly drove into the side of his face, knocking him back down to the bench.  
A pair of red eyes met his. 'Move again and I will rip you apart.' It was Kat, but she was much changed from the student Kain had briefly met. Her hair was white as chalk and her skin was a pale blue. Fledgling wings protruded from her back – Kain had to fight down a terrible urge to rip them off. Something was telling him that these were Hylden wings.  
Kat moved to straddle the old vampire, running her nails down his chest and making him squirm. 'You like that?' she enquired. Kain gritted his teeth in pain as she drove her talons into his flesh. 'Ah, you really like that,' she said, with a laugh.  
'Where the hell am I?' Kain demanded, struggling to keep his mind away from the sultry woman currently mauling him. Kat had moved to using her mouth on his chest. He hissed as her tiny fangs nipped at his skin. 'Answer me!'  
Kat snarled and leapt off him. In almost the same movement she had him pinned against the ceiling with a red bolt of light. 'I will not tell you anything!' she said. 'You want the book. You want to kill Janos!' She moved away, leaving Kain dangling there. 'You want this, don't you?' She caressed a black box that was covered in red sigils. She made a show of playing with the clasp and it sprang open. 'Oops. Silly me. Janos said I wasn't to show you this...'  
Kain's eyes widened. 'The book...' For inside the box, nestled on the black velvet, was the book they had been searching for. It was nothing special – it just resembled a tattered journal. But Kain knew the power in those pages. 'Where...?'  
Kat tutted as she locked the box once more. 'That would be telling,' she said, sweetly. With a growl she leapt upwards, using her tiny wings to hover. 'And I will never let you go, because you'd just tell dear little Raziel and his bitch where the book is. So I'm going to kill you before I let you go.'  
'Raziel will still find you,' Kain said. He had absolute faith that his lieutenant would burst through the door at any moment and save him. 'He will kill you and he will destroy the book before Janos has a chance to write in it.' Raziel, now is your cue, he thought frantically, as Kat advanced, fangs bared.  
'Raziel isn't here to save you this time.' Janos' voice boomed through the chamber. Kat instantly grovelled at his feet as he walked in. With a flick of his hand, Janos snapped Kain's spine. He released the old vampire from Kat's spell and he fell, lifeless, to the ground. Janos knelt down and smirked. 'And with one flick of a wrist, the mighty Kain has fallen. The balance guardian is dead. Long... Live... The... King...'  
  
EEEK!!! What's happening? Had to leave Raziel's encounter with Mr Sykes (the bookstore owner) till the next chapter due to a huge edit. So NEXT time Raziel has an encounter with a scary bookstore owner, Lara has bad news, and Vorador and Janos face off. Till next time.... 


End file.
